


When You're Lost in the Darkness

by buckysbears (DrZebra)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, No actual zombies in this, The Last of Us - Freeform, and no knowledge of the game is necessary to read this, this is just an adapted scene from the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 05:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8359012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrZebra/pseuds/buckysbears
Summary: TLOU auDaisy is immune to the zombie infection, and it's up to May to bring her to the Shield laboratories so they can find a cure. 
- They hadn’t seen another person in weeks (hadn’t seen a friendly for longer than that), were still being chased by the infected, had been sleeping in the cold woods every night, but there, pressed up against May, Daisy felt safe.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sleeplessmiles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplessmiles/gifts).



> so this is a short scene from a longer work that I'm never actually going to write all of, and it's ALL SARAH'S FAULT. SHE GOT THE IDEA IN MY HEAD AND PUT ME UP TO THIS. SO LOVE OR HATE THIS, IT'S ON HER 
> 
> a lot of this was written in the car during a road trip so like ... sorry if it's horrible 
> 
> this is adapted from a few scenes in the game The Last of Us, but again, you really don't have to know anything about the game to read this. Some of the dialogue is pulled directly, but most of it is adapted. if you want to watch the scene just let me know in the comments and I can give you a link

“Try to aim the blast. You’re not going for force here, you’re going for precision.”

Daisy concentrated, sweat beading on her forehead despite the crisp fall day. She took a deep breath, all the way into her stomach, just as May had taught her, and then let out a surge of power on the exhale. She heard the crunch of small bones that signaled she had done her job, and then the squirrel fell out of the tree, landing on the ground with a thump.

Daisy held in her shout of excitement, biting her lip and glancing over to May, who was watching impassively. Daisy walked over to the squirrel, gingerly picked up the body, and offered it to May.

“Well?” she said finally, unable to hold in the need for affirmation.

May peered up at the tree. “There’s minimal damage to the surrounding branches. The blast was focused, just what we wanted.” She cracked the smallest of smiles. “You did really well.”

“Really?” Daisy asked, her young face lit up like a watchtower. She tried to contain her excitement, but rarely had she gotten a compliment from the guarded older woman, and the success of the training was bursting forth from her body. Without thinking, she flung her arms around May, clinging on tightly.

May didn’t hug back, but she didn’t pull away, either, so Daisy considered the whole event a victory. They hadn’t seen another person in weeks (hadn’t seen a friendly for longer than that), were still being chased by the infected, had been sleeping in the cold woods every night, but there, pressed up against May, Daisy felt safe.

“Why don’t we cook that before we keep traveling?” May asked. “Are you hungry?”

Daisy pulled back, looking up at May with a grin she couldn’t hold back. “Yeah.”

May took the squirrel from her. “At least it’s not flat this time.”

“Hey,” Daisy bit out, trying to keep the smile from her voice, “that only happened, like, four times, max.”

“’Only’,” May parroted, slinging her backpack down so they could get the supplies to start cooking.

They ate the squirrel, though the little bit of meat they could get from it did nothing to settle the roaring hunger in their stomachs, and pushed on.

They crossed into Jackson County, which meant they were near the settlement that May’s mother was supposed to be taking refuge in. Lian May had been a Shield operative for years, and would know where the Shield laboratory was. If they could get Daisy there, possibly the only person in America who was immune to the cordyceps infection, there was a chance they would be able to engineer a vaccine. And then maybe life could go back to normal.

That’s what Coulson had said, anyway, months ago, when he first asked May to smuggle the young girl out of Boston and to the waiting Shield team, who had been dead when they had made it to the meeting place. But May wasn’t sure life could ever go back to normal. It never would for her, anyway.

“You know, I think it’s wild that people used to sing for a living,” Daisy suddenly said as they picked their way down along the river, pulling May out of her thoughts. “It seems like such an inane thing. Like all they do is sing, and people pay them for it. It would be super sweet, though. I think I’d be a great singer. I used to make up songs all the time as a kid.”

“You’re still a kid,” May reminded her.

“Fair. What did you want to do when you were younger?”

May pushed a sigh through her nose, and didn’t answer.

“Come _on_ , you know you’re going to tell me if I badger you enough.” Daisy watched her with a glint in her eye. “ _Maaaaay_.”

“An ice skater,” May eventually grumbled.

Daisy choked on a laugh. “You- I’m sorry, I couldn’t possibly have heard you right, you said- did you actually say you wanted to be an _ice skater_?”

“Don’t push it, kid,” May warned her.

“Lemme just- no, no, I need to drink this puppy in.” Daisy held her hands up in front of her like she was framing a photo. “Let me just imagine this. You, ice skating. Wow. What a picture.”

“Okay, that’s enough.”

“I’m going to cherish that forever. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for telling me that. Really, I mean it.”

“We’re getting close,” May said, trying to ignore her.

They walked further, until they came across a large, concrete building, wrapped around the river.

“What is it?” Daisy asked.

“A hydroelectric plant.”

“A hydra-what?”

“Hydroelectric. It takes the energy from the river and converts it to electricity.”

Daisy blinked. “How?”

May looked at her, then shrugged. “I know what it is, I don’t know how it works.”

Daisy hummed.

“We do need to cross to the other side, though.”

“I can’t-“

“I know, you can’t swim.” May looked around. “Alright, I’ll find something.”

After a few minutes of searching, she was able to find the crank which raised the bridge that crossed over the river. Daisy crossed hesitantly, as there were no sides on the bridge, and the metal was slick with water. May walked close behind her, ready to grab her if she slipped.

They made their way around the outside of the plant, until they came to a large gate. It seemed to be the only way through to where they needed to go, so May tried to shove it open, but it was locked.

“Maybe we can get you to the other side somehow,” May started, “and you can unlock it-“

“Get on your knees!” came a shout from above, and May quickly shoved herself back so she was covering Daisy. One of Daisy’s hands came up to ball in the back of May’s shirt.

There were armed men popping up from the wall on either side of the gate, pointing rifles at them.

“We didn’t know this place was occupied,” May tried to explain, “we’re just trying to pass through.”

“I said get on your knees!” the man shouted again.

“Do what he says,” May told Daisy, who slowly let go of her shirt. The two of them sunk down to their knees, hands in the air. Daisy shot her a look that May didn’t like, a ‘ _we can take these guys_ ’ kind of look. May shook her head subtly.

“State your purpose here,” the man said.

“I already told you, we were just trying to pass through.”

“Oh, let them be, Jacob.”

May looked up as a figure came through the gate.

“Do you know them?” the man named Jacob asked.

May let out a sigh of relief. “Hello, mother.”

Lian May smiled. “Hello, Mellie.”

“’Mellie’?” Daisy whispered, and May shot her a quick glare.

“You can get up now. I don’t keep family on their knees,” Lian told them.

The two of them stood, and Lian pulled May into a fierce hug. It was odd for May, getting two hugs in one day. She wasn’t sure that had happened in 20 years, since the original outbreak had started, since the world had been a different place, and she’d been a different person.

May ignored Daisy’s ‘ _aww_ ’ and pulled back.

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Lian told her.

“It’s been a long time,” May said.

Lian nodded toward Daisy. “And this is …?”

“Daisy,” she introduced herself.

“We’re traveling together,” May quickly explained, before her mother could get any ideas about how she and Daisy were related.

Lian watched them both with a critical eye, then nodded. “Well, Daisy, it’s an honor to meet you. Any friend of Melinda’s is a friend of mine. Now, come on, you two. Let me show you inside.”

Lian headed back through the gate, and May and Daisy followed her. Inside the wall there were more armed men, and men in yellow construction hats, and-

“Horses!” Daisy exclaimed, running up to the three horses that were tied to a post along the inside of the wall, reaching up to stroke each of their faces, cooing at them sweetly. May bit back a smile at the sight.

“You like horses?” Lian asked, coming to stand next to Daisy. “We have a lot more at the settlement.”

“Yeah, they’re really cool,” Daisy answered. “We didn’t get to see many animals back in Boston.”

“Have you ever ridden?”

Daisy nodded, scratching the pinto’s forehead.

“When have you ridden a horse?” May asked incredulously, reaching over to pet one of the horses as well.

“One of the soldiers at the military school gave me lessons,” Daisy explained. “He said I was pretty good.”

The blonde man, Jacob, came up behind them, his rifle pointed at the ground. “Hey, sorry about earlier,” he said softly, “I didn’t know you were related to Ms. May. But hey, let me make it up to you. We were just about to eat, why don’t you join us?”

“I’m starving,” Daisy moaned, her mouth already watering at the mention of food.

“You go eat, I need to talk with my mother,” May said.

“Oh.” Daisy looked between them. “I’ll stay with you, then.”

“Go,” May ordered gently. “We won’t be long.”

“No, it’s fine.” Daisy pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Daisy,” May warned.

Daisy finally relented, shooting her a nervous glance as she followed the stranger away.

May turned to her mother. “We need to talk. Privately.”

Lian waved for May to follow her. She led her through the building of the hydroelectric plant, and May watched as the men and women in hardhats worked on one of the main generators.

“This will be our sixth time trying to get it up and running again,” Lian said. “We’ve been without electricity for a while.”

“How many people do you have in this settlement?” May asked.

“We’re twenty families strong, now.”

“And you run it?”

Lian tilted her head. “More or less.”

“That’s really great, mom.”

“Had to find something to do after Shield. And these people were just starting up, needed someone to take charge. I figured I could lend my services. They’re good people, and it’s a good town. It’s exactly the kind of place we didn’t think would make it after the outbreak.”

They entered a small office just off of the main room, and Lian closed the door behind them.

“Shield … that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” May said. “And Daisy.”

“I figured it had something to do with the girl. She’s cute.”

“She’s immune.”

Lian stared, her eyes flicking back and forth over May’s face.

“She was bitten months ago, and she hasn’t turned,” May continued. “I’ve seen her breathe in enough spores to take down a dozen grown men, and nothing. She needs to get to Shield, see if they can engineer a vaccine from her somehow.”

“There’s more,” Lian guessed.

May nodded. “She’s an inhuman.”

“How do you know the immunity doesn’t have something to do with her abilities?” Lian asked.

“I don’t,” May admitted, “but it’s worth a shot. That’s why you have to take her.”

Lian’s face turned stony, and she glared May down. They both held eye contact, neither of them breaking.

“I’ll take some supplies and be on my way, I won’t bother you again,” May said. “You and your crew can take Daisy to the Shield laboratory.”

Lian didn’t say anything. Finally, she turned to her desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a photo. “I went home last year,” she said, gazing down at the photo. “Most of our things were gone, raided. But this was still there.”

She held the photo out, and May took it, then shoved it back as soon as she saw what was printed on the front.

“I don’t want this,” May said, voice hard.

“Melinda-“

“I said no.”

“It’s been twenty years,” Lian bit out. “Do you still want nothing to remember your daughter by?”

“I have more than enough to remember her by,” May shot back, “I don’t need a photo.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Mellie-“

“Mother, don’t.”

“-so you can’t make the same mistakes with Daisy. It wasn’t your fault, and you’re not going to mess this up.”

May clenched her jaw. “That’s not why I want you to take her.”

“I know why you want me to take her.”

“You know the area better-“

“You’re afraid of getting attached. After the outbreak, you pushed me away, you pushed Andrew away-“

“Leave him out of this.”

“But I hate to break it to you, you’re already attached. And she’s attached to you. Doing this will hurt you both, I promise you that.”

“This isn’t up for discussion,” May said, her voice pulling out of her with great tension. “I’m leaving, and she’s staying with you.”

“You are not abandoning that girl,” Lian growled. “This is your mission, and you’re going to finish it.”

May turned to leave, just as there was a frantic knock on the door, and Jacob pushed it open, face wrought with fear.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he started, “but Daisy-“

“What happened?” May cut in, stomach sinking.

“She said she was coming back to find you, but she just ran past me, took one of the horses, and rode off into the woods.”

May pushed past him before he was finished with the sentence, Lian on her heels. They exited the building, and saw that there were now only two horses tied up near the gate.

Without asking, May mounted one of them, leading it toward the open gate. Lian was right behind her on her own horse.

Outside the gate were hoof prints, leading into the woods. Lian pointed them out, but May was already kicking her horse into a run. They rode through the forest, following the prints in the mud through a winding path. At one point they lost the trail, and had to circle back and try again. May was almost vibrating with frustration and something else when they finally made it to an abandoned ranch nestled in the woods.

“That’s our horse,” Lian said, pointing at the pinto that was standing in front of the porch. “She’s definitely here.”

May swung herself off her horse before it came to a full stop, and was marching into the ranch’s main house as Lian gathered the horses.

May entered the house, which was mostly dark, save for the bit of natural light that filtered in through the windows in the main room. May stalled in the foyer, instinctually looking around for any potential threats. She focused hard, but didn’t hear any movement in the house, so she called out, “Daisy?”

“Up here,” came the reply.

May made her way up the creaky, wooden stairs. There were a few rooms up there, three beds and two baths, but only one of the doors was closed, and Daisy’s voice had been muffled, so she cautiously opened that one.

Daisy was sitting in a window seat in what was once the bedroom of a young girl, done up in pink with posters on the walls, a book spread out on her propped up knees.

Something filled May’s chest as she looked at her, and she didn’t want to claim any one source. Relief would mean she cared, anger would mean she cared. And she didn’t want to care, not right now, not after the conversation she’d just had with her mother.

Daisy didn’t even look up at her, just continued to look at the book. “Is this really all they had to worry about?” she asked. “Boys, movies? Deciding which shirt goes with which skirt?”

May tried to simmer down her emotions, focus them on the task at hand. “Get up, we’re leaving.”

Daisy finally looked up at her. “And if I say no?”

“That’s not up for debate.”

Daisy crossed her arms.

May took a step towards her, taking a deep breath, and letting it all go on the exhale. “Do you even realize what your life means? How much you’re worth? Running off like that, putting yourself at risk? It was pretty stupid.”

Daisy glared. “I guess we’re both disappointed with each other, then.”

“What is it that you want from me?” May asked.

Daisy stood, stalking towards her. “I want you to admit that you just wanted to get rid of me this whole time. That I don’t mean as much to you as I thought I did.”

The accusation hurt, though it wasn’t unfounded. “My mother knows this area better than I do-“

“Oh, fuck that,” Daisy groaned.

“And I trust her more than I do myself with this-“

“Will you stop with all the bullshit?” Daisy cried, hands balling to fists. May knew the power that came behind those hands, and she watched them cautiously, not for the first time. “What are you so afraid of? That I’m going to end up like Trip? I can’t get infected, and I can take care of myself.”

May shook her head. “I’m not having this conversation.”

“Yes, we are! Don’t I deserve at least that?”

“How many close calls have we had?” May asked. “How many times have you almost died at the hands of the infected, or hunters-“

“We seem to be doing alright,” Daisy cut in.

“And now you’ll do even better with my mother and her crew.”

“I don’t even know them.” Daisy’s hands flopped at her sides. “And I don’t trust them.”

“Well I do, and that’ll have to be good enough.”

There was a long, tense silence, where they both did nothing but gaze at the other, Daisy with her jaw jutted and fists curled tight, May with a face she tried to keep carefully blank. When there was no rebuttal from Daisy, May turned to leave.

“I’m not her, you know.”

May stopped, turning back around. When Daisy didn’t continue she asked, “What?”

Daisy faltered, then shook her head slightly, pulling her shoulders back. “One of the men at the plant told me about your daughter.”

Rage, white hot, filled May. She marched forward. “Don’t you talk about her-“

“Look,” Daisy said, holding her hands up, “I really am sorry about your daughter, May. I am. But … I’ve lost people, too.”

May grit her jaw. “You have no idea what loss is.”

Daisy’s brows furrowed angrily, and May was now close enough to notice the tears swimming above her eyelids. “Everyone I’ve cared about has either died, or left me. Everyone-“ She waved her hand, then let it drop in a defeated motion. “Everyone except for you. So don’t stand here and tell me that I would be safer with someone else, because the truth is I would just be more scared.”

May watched the girl in front of her, watched as she trembled, her lips and her hands, watched as she held back the tears from running down her face with sheer force of will alone.

“You’re right,” May said. “You’re not my daughter. And I’m certainly not your mother. And this is where we go our separate ways.”

May didn’t have a chance to see Daisy crumple, because right at that moment Lian burst into the room.

“We’re being ambushed,” Lian said, pulling a pistol out of her holster. “Do you have a gun?”

“If I need a gun, I’ll take it,” May told her.

Lian nodded, and then they both crept into the hallway. There were two men with guns coming up the stairs, and two men in the foyer. May and her mother exchanged a glance.

As the first man made it to the second floor, May sprung on him, grabbing him from the side and sinking her knife into his throat. She used the momentum to spin around with the now gurgling man and push him down the stairs. He toppled into the second man, who slammed his head on the wall as they fell to the bottom level. Both of them lay in a heap, unmoving.

The two men in the foyer began to shoot haphazardly up into the second floor. Lian took out one of them with a well-aimed bullet. The other, May took out by jumping off the railing of the stairwell and landing on him, knocking his head into the ground. She stood over his body, and looked around.

“Did you see any more?” she asked her mother.

Lian shook her head, slipping her pistol back into the holster. “It was only those four.”

May accidentally made eye contact with Daisy, who had watched the whole fight, glumly stooped in the doorway of the bedroom. May looked away, her stomach rolling.

“Then let’s go,” she said.

They made their way outside and got on the horses. Lian led the way back, and they followed her, Daisy in the middle, May bringing up the rear.

The full force of her conversation with Daisy, and the conversation with her mother that had come before it, was settling into May as they slowly picked their way through the woods. Something like shame rooted fiercely in May’s gut. Something like regret. She opened her mouth a few times to speak, but nothing felt right, so she let the silence prevail.

Eventually, they topped a hill at the edge of the forest, and Lian came to a stop. The other two stopped beside her.

“Here it is,” Lian said, motioning to the settlement before them, a small town with about forty houses, a few main buildings, and a small park, all surrounded by a high, patrolled fence. “It looks like they got the power back on, so the kids will be watching movies tonight.”

May stared down at the settlement, her possibly decisions weighing heavily across her shoulders. But she knew which one she was going to pick. “Where’s the lab?” May asked, not looking at either of them.

“University of Eastern Colorado.”

May nodded, then waved her hand at Daisy. “Daisy, get off your horse, give it back to my mother. Mom, I’m going to hang onto this guy if that’s alright with you.” Her mother watched her carefully, but she turned to Daisy instead. “Daisy, don’t make me repeat myself.”

Daisy looked conflicted, the reins held tightly in her hands. But she slipped off her horse, and handed the reins to Lian. “Sorry for stealing your horse,” she mumbled.

Lian nodded, still looking at May. “You’re taking her,” she said, not quite a question.

“I made up my mind,” May stated. “How do I find the lab?”

“It’s in the science building. Looks like a giant mirror, you can’t miss it.”

May held out her hand, and Daisy looked into her eyes for a few long moments before taking the help and pulling herself onto the back of May’s horse.

Lian watched them both with a small smile. “There’s a place for you two here, you know.”

May nodded, then glanced over her shoulder. “You good?”

Daisy scooted forward as close as she could, wrapping her arms around May’s middle. “Yeah. I’m good.”

May said, “Take care of yourself, mom,” then she pulled on the reins and turned the horse around. She didn’t look back as she and Daisy rode off down the hill and in the opposite direction of the settlement, didn’t look at her knowing mother and the expression she might find there. She didn’t look back at Daisy, and remember the look she herself had put on that face not long before. She didn’t look because it would hurt, and it would hurt because she cared. (Oh, how she cared.)


End file.
